German-American Discourse on Politics and Culture

August 19, 2017

Gerhard Schröder's shameful second life as Putin surrogate

What happens to political leaders who leave office at a relatively young age? Jimmy Carter writes books, works for world peace, and builds houses for the poor. Bill Clinton built a foundation that prevents disease and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa. George Bush has found a new calling painting portraits of war veterans. And Gerhard Schröder promotes the interests of an authoritarian kleptocracy that seeks to undermine Western democracies:

Schröder has spent much of the past decade working for the Russian energy industry, serving as a board member of several consortia in which Russian-government-controlled energy company Gazprom is either the majority or sole shareholder. His astonishing career in the Russian energy industry reached new heights this week when the former chancellor was nominated for a position as an independent director on the board of Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company — and one in which the Kremlin also holds a controlling stake. The nomination had been rumored for days and was confirmed by a government decree published late on Friday night.

Rosneft is not just any energy company; it represents the interests of the Kremlin and is run by one of Putin's former KGB colleagues. Schröder's attempts to rationalize his collusion by insisting that he is simply helping with Germany's energy security is at best cynical:

Schröder's old Social Democrat (SPD) political pals have been reluctant to openly criticize their former leader for his crass opportunism. After all, Gerhard Schröder is a gifted politician and highly effective campaigner; the party needs all the help it can muster ahead of the next month's election. Polls show it is likely get trounced by Angela Merkel's CDU. And, to some degree, Gerhard Schröder is simply an extreme case of the Kremlin-appeasement tendencies exhibited by other SPD leaders such as Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sigmar Gabriel. All of this is very sad for the party of Willy Brandt that once stood for human rights and social justice:

("Still today your (SPD) struggle against the right-wing forces is close to your hearts - no question about it. But how do you reconcile this with the fact that the Kremlin is the great patron of all quarter-, half- and full Nazis - ranging from the FPÖ to the Front National? A patron who uses its meager reserves to deploy his army of trolls and bots for the brown cause, who uses his shrill media empire to spread conspiracy theories and "alternative facts" across the globe, who initiates hacks and leaks to undermine the democratic process like there is now tomorrow. A patron who spares no expense when it serves the enemies of democracy, who shamelessly makes his enormous resources available to any right-wing street urchin.")

Schröder became chancellor with his clever use of anti-American rhetoric. Today he is applauded across Germany for his especially harsh words for President Trump - conveniently forgetting that it was his pal Vladimir Putin who was instrumental in getting Trump elected.